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Sunday, July 06, 2014

Transformers 4 Tops Slow Weekend

I was expecting Transformers: Age of Extinction's weekend box office to drop 50% but apparently I underestimated just how much the "more of the same" reviews (including mine) and the holiday weekend (down 43% compared to last year) would hurt the film as it dropped a whopping 65%. The current estimates indicate a $36.4 million weekend in the US ($174.7M US total) with $95.8 million in international sales (($400.9M total) for a $132.2 million weekend. The estimated 12 day worldwide box office total sits at $575.6 million. A number that any movie and those associated with it should be proud of except that they have the unusual definition of success being measured as a final take of at least $1 billion worldwide.
Since 1 billion is how Hasbro and Paramount have unofficially chosen to measure the overall success of Transformers 4, that means any box office total below it will be considered a disappointment (if not just outright failure) that could impact how they treat the next installment. After the huge drop in the US, estimates now indicate the film will only take in around $245 to $265 million for a $25% drop compared to Dark of the Moon. However Paramount's focus on China over the US is paying off where $50.9 million of that $95.8 million international take came from China for a greater then US total of $212.8 million. The movie will easily surpass Avatar's $221.9M for top film in that country and could make up that difference in US sales.

In addition the movie is about to get released in a bunch of additional Latin American and European countries shortly after the World Cup ends. In short, 69% of Dark of the Moon's $1.1 billion box office came international sales and for Transformers 4 to at least equal that performance, it looks like that number will need to climb to around 75% (it is currently at 70%) if the movie is to cross that $1 billion threshold. If that happens a) the corporate powers that be will be very happy and b) expect the next movie to have an even more international flavor and product marketing than this one.

Love how people are complaining of 'more of the same' - Did any of you not actually watch the original cartoons? It was the same thing every episode - Megatron forms a plan for world domination, Prime saves the day. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

What were you expecting?

The film was classic Transformers. I loved every second if it.

Some folk are just too hard to please. Probably the same people who griped when they first saw that Prime had flames......

Prime. Galvatron. Lockdown. Autobots. Dinobots.....what the hell isn't there to like if you're a TF fan????

Obviously you are less of a G1/TF purist and more a casual watcher of the G1 series. The G1 show sucked and we know that, that's why their is the phrase G1'ner because their are idiots who use G1 as an example for everything when in honesty Transformers has been improving up until the sexist, racist and dull crap that arrived in the form of the movies.

As proven by more recent shows we can have better quality in Transformers - we are just not getting it in the movies.

Adding name drops to random characters who don't fuck all during the film does not entertain me as fellow TF fan. Its a juvenile attempt at convincing idiots to see the movie because 'oh look Dinobots' ¬_¬ Name dropping characters does not make a good movie - especially when they are given none of their original traits

Megatron for example hates the humans - yet chooses to rename himself as the human-given name 'Galvatron'

Optimus is now a revenge driven robot shouting 'I'll kill you'

Lockdown is just sequel bait, he does nothing else other than exposit about the creators and the seed.

Dinobots did nothing.

You are not a TF fan... or if you are you are the lowest kind of TF fan who sucks up whatever shit is given to you. I don't understand how you are content to just watch shit rather than hope for a change of pace? Even as a G1 fan you got bored at some point when you realised the Autobots will always win and they'll always fight Megatron/Galvatron.

I personally loved G1,big fan.But I thought the movie was frikin awesome and plus most of you are forgetting this is not G1.this is the live action movie so things have to be different things have to change to make the films better and appeal to all,even some what G1 fans you couldn't expect everything from G1 into these films.But now the story is leading to G1,like the Quintensson's I doubt Michael Bay or Hasbro would want the Quintensson's to look like their G1 looks they don't even look menacing or dangerous.so their looks are going to be changed,to make them look badass and more of a destructive force in the movie.As well as Unicron, He might have to be changed, of course he's still going to be a planet sized robot but you can't have him to big. They're going to try and find a way to make all these characters work and fit into the movie.their going to better and more dangerous then their original G1 looks.

Should have released movie after World Cup, bad press effect is going to affect sales. Biggest let down is half of movie should have been dinobots. The writers and producers and story boarders and editors had no clue the respect and expectations fans have for the dinobots. They are on a pedestal, revered, we expect a standard. Talking, moving as robots and dinosaurs in battle, wrecking havoc on friend and foe alike. Rather than 45 minutes of humans running through China/ Hong Kong, 30 minutes of Dinobot mayhem. Even a 15 minute massive last stand on the bridge after Prime kills Lockdown, with Galvatron vs Grimlock in finale. But no, just enough dinobot Bayhem to wet our appetite. Sad.

Some people are going to get mad but sorry this is my opinion. If this was truly a great and incredible movie people would have went to it in droves over the holiday wkd and it should have made an easy 45 to 47 million period end of discussion. I'm sick of people saying its just a slow holiday wkd at the box office. It doesn't say much about it being a great and unbelievable movie. To me the highway seen with Optimus, Galvatron and LockDown was awesome although even then the fight between Prime and Galvatron was so so. Still couldn't see much, still had the shakey Cam and watching Galvatron transform was horrible, I want see a real transformation but Galv's was badass and Prime's upgrade was bad ass as well. LockDown stole the show he was just incredible, the ship was awesome and why he was here and what he was doing took the movie in another direction for sure but it was so short lived. Hound didn't transform, Crosshairs didn't transform and they spent way way way to much time with that dang magnet pulling things up and dropping them, for me that's when it went right back to a typical Bay film. I don't know about you but I would have much rather of seen more one on one death matches and ofcourse more transformations instead of that dang dumb magnet, I mean it is supposed to be Transformers, so transform dammit!!. The seen in the beginning was awesome when they came to earth millions of yrs ago but also short lived. Come on man!!! show more of that stuff man!! Spend a little more time on seens like that instead of that dang magnet. Should of spent more time on the Dinobots as well, looking at all the trailors and pictures you would think that they would have spent a lot more time on the Dinobots but with Bay's trailers what you see and think is going to happen isn't even close, always seem to be a little disappointed because you see the potential . My god the CGI was awesome, the 3D was second to none and was a technical achievement for sure. I don't know that magnet hurt it for me, took away to much time from other seens that could have been and I think a lot of people see those things too and it aggravates us because it could have been used to show more Galvatron and more death matches and more transformations, you do that and people will be swinging from the rafters with excitement. We'll see?

I agree and disagree. In the talk of saying " If this was truly a great and incredible movie people would have went to it in droves",you have to take into account that a large amount of people also listen to what critics say and the sheer number that went and saw it on opening weekend. Your typical movie goer usually only goes and see's a movie once in theaters.

I ,personally, enjoyed the movie. I saw robots transform. I saw them kill each other. In the middle of all that,I saw a decent story which was more than I actually expected to see.

The dinobots definitely could used more screen time. I figure they were more eye candy to drive in some bigger numbers.

and yes- the magnet scene was waaaaay too long and my biggest gripe was stanley tucci's inconsistent and poor acting and poor dialogue and with the asian woman scenes- crapptastic. everything else was great

My goodness DOTM made 18.3 freakin million dead out on the 4th of July. OK I'll give you the rain and barbeques but it should have made a minimum of 15 million on the 4th. By any stretch it wasn't all bad. TFLAMB went a little too far because there were some good moments and ofcourse stupid ones. I couldnt disagree more with tflamb about Cade being a crappy father, where did he get that from, he loved his little girl and was actually trying to teach her morals which is obviously disappearing from our society that's for sure. And I thought LockDown was an awesome character and totally understood why he came. I'm sorry but that magnet just drove me nuts, I was like PLEASE BAY STOP!!!! . I like one on one death matches like Bee against Barricade in the first one, its like a showdown like BRING IT ON!!. instead of these armies of bots that you can take down with a beebee gun, aggravates me. Maybe if all of us keep drilling it in into there thick skulls and I think we can all agree, we want way more transformations it is Transformers, more one on one death matches and go into space for a half hr and don't tell me you aint got the money. I don't know after 4 movies I think we are stuck with armies of bots that we could kill with a beebee gun, they just crumble.

Go into space for a half hour don't you mean the whole frikin movie thiers been to many earth battles we deserve two awesome space battles first of course in Transformers 5 optimus prime ,and whatever is going to happen to the Quintensson's and of course some earth scenes because the Autobots where left on earth.it'll be awesome if they have a autobot base like in G1 so that'll add to the earth scenes then Transformers 6 movie completely in space a huge epic battle between Unicorn vs Primus.

Lol at the guy who said 'I'm not a fan'.....Couldn't be more wrong if you tried. But I hope it made you feel better to try and judge my character based on a few comments on a message board.

I'm in my 30's and have watched and read just about every incarnation of Transformers there has been. Just because I can think outside the box and accept change and not hang on to past memories of what I THINK Transformers should be, doesn't NOT make me a fan.

You folk are so set in your ways. You just can't seem to accept anything different from your precious norm.

Funny thing is, you hate these films so much, yet continue to keep watching them.....I think there's a some sort of irony, lost in there somewhere.

Lol...sexist and racist. You're one of THOSE folk huh. Little on the sensitive side are we?

I suggest sitting back and taking these films for what they're meant to be - about huge transforming robots beatin the stuffing out of each other in an ever lasting civil war.

All of you here loved Transformers and youre the first that run and saw it so it doesn't matter anything you say now :) you see it and we maust thank first of all haters that first of the first run to see transformers :) Congratulation you win Transformers 5,6 and maybe more because this movie will surpass even Iron-man 3 and maybe just a big maybe Frozen :) End of discussion !

They just want the G1 aspects of transformers. but they haven't realised after four films that this is the live action movie and not G1.It was made to not reference to much of G1 because G1 already happened, Michael Bay wanted a new story for the transformers world to make it appeal to both movie fans and G1 fans.But everyone is complaining that it's not G1 and it's a terrible film.Transformers age of extinction is by far the best film of the transformers franchise.sure it has its flaws bit if you don't think about G1 and enjoy the film them you'll love these films. Why can't you all just be glad that we have these films my favorite movie was Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.But then age of extinction it's frikin awesome.You guys just all need to let go of Generation 1 and just enjoy these films.stop hanging onto the past people.

But we have to be proud of this franchise! 4 films and its in the top 10 grossing franchises of all time, all the others bar one have 5+ movies and with 6 we will surely be in the top 5 for quite a while.

I agree, I might have wanted more transformations and one on one death matches and more space scenes but to say I didn't enjoy the movie would be bull, it was a fun ride. And ultimately I'm glad Transformers are on the big screen and my butt will always be in a seat with my medium popcorn and flat soda and I'm looking forward to Trans 5

I could care less whether or not it's G1 or Prime, or whatever the heck other classification there may be...I just want a movie with a somewhat coherent, and even moderately logical story and at least SOME slightly complex characterizations (either human or robot, at this point I'd take either) so that I can actually care about the characters a little. The way it was in this movie, when a robot or human was killed, I didn't care. I didn't care about any of them. Bay made these characters so trite, loathsome, and one-dimensional that I found myself praying for a nuclear explosion to go off and kill them all, including Optimus and Bee, so that I didn't have to watch any longer. This movie made Revenge look like Oscar worthy material (which obviously it was not). It was long, stupid, vapid, mindless, and worst of all, boring. At least the other 3 weren't boring! This was Bay's last chance for my future ticket sales. If I find out he's directing the next one, no way will I go to see it. A total waste of time & money.

personally ive hated every transformers series since G1 and even ill admit upon rewatching its not that great...personally the comics are way better that being said the problem with the movies is that 1. the scripts are being written one at a time with only a semi basic idea of what the next movie is going to be...see the fallen, the dinobots no explaining where certain characters went even ones we didnt care about ie the twins still a sentence or two saying they died or something to tie the movies closer together...but nope gotta make stuff up as they go along instead of writing a trilogy...theres no reason they need to of course but it would eliminate the plot holes or questions between movies again they dont need to do this..but whatever, 2. they are using whatever transformer gimmick that seems to make sense with the movie they are writing at the time ie space bridge, devestator, the fallen..ect ect ect..at this point they should just call each movie a reboot which they may as well have......at this point im done with the series.....its obvious bay is just doing it to get a paycheck at this point esp when he says he hates the dinobots and they appear in exactly the form that someone who doesnt even care about the dinobots would do....ultimately it boils down to one thing was the movie entertaining...not for me....too many things that bugged me while watching it...visually its good though and i did like the actors its just watching a director who is just mailing it in plotwise and only cares about the visuals is just disheartening...we could get a transformers movie that surpasses everything else that has come before except perhaps transformers the movie 86...hell lets just make a live action version of that bay....the script is already written...

None of the arguments matter. The movies are what they are and will be made the way the studio, writers, director etc. want them made. If your unhappy with it then don't see it. It's been 4 movies now. There is no reason for you to expect more than what they are. If you like them. Awesome. If you don't. That's ok too. Just don't whine and complain when you already know your going to get.

so no one is entitled not to like it? i liked the first and third they had a better plotline than 4 at least to me. visually yes its more of the same which is great...they have always been a visual treat if thats all ya want so be it, but other folks want more from a movie...and I liked gi joe and armageddeon so its not like i have high standards..

we didnt know what we were going to get....the dinobots making a cameo? Galvatron only making a cameo? i liked the first and third one....but this was like revenge of the fallen 2.0...........i expected the dinobots to be more of the plot not an afterthought...so to say that we know what we are getting into because its a michael bay movie is silly...the rock is one of the better action movies ever so its not like he is all visuals....

30 min of dinobots is far from a cameo. Granted would have been nice to see more but it is what it is. They were eye candy to draw more people. Count yourself lucky to have seen them at all. In all reality the dinobots would not have fit in Bayformers without them being some sort of vehicle. The Rock was amazing but were looking at two different films with different actors. That's like comparing apples to oranges.

2:41 PM what in gods name are you talking about. Bay does listen to us but you have drill it in his head. For instance all three movies had dirty humor to the point fo bots a humpin, balls a hangin and Simmons hairy ass a showin. He finally got the hint with the nasty perverted humor, matter of fact the movie itself was quite moral this time with Cade trying to teach his daughter to be a good girl which I thought was breath of fresh air instead of deepwang deepwang so we should absolutely keep pushing Bay to listen to us fans. Even with lockdown and the creators and the dinobots he was clearly listening to us, he didn't even like the dinobots but knew we did. He's stubborn but he I starting to listen to us. So I think your wrong what we say and want does matter we just have to scream from the rooftop.

There is quite a time span between the things Bay says and now. Hearing all the talk of how Bay doesn't like the dinobots is laughable. He said that 5 years ago. He was also not a Transformers fan but isn't he now? Yes he is. Things change. Since the beginning fans have been screaming G1 but so far no G1. If he's not going to appease the commotion of not even holding something as simple as a color scheme then he's really not going to care about all this other stuff. The new story being a little more moral was great. I'll give you that but it's a new story.

I agree with you 100% we should just keep pushing Michael Bay.It might be his films,but we the fans choose what we want into the franchise of these films.If we just let him do the films the way he imagines them,Then the films would turn out terrible but now like you said he's listening to us.So we just have to keep pushing to both the writers and Producers!

If fans were choosing we wouldn't have the complaints of too many humans and not enough bots. Bay isn't the greatest but he's not the worst. People screamed high and low about lips on Prime but it turned out not to be so bad. Bay doing the movies his way isn't bad at all. We've had 4 so far

I agree with 2:41. Bay isn't really listening. He takes bits and pieces of things and tries to appease certain aspects but these films are done his way. The balls hanging. The Twins not being in there? That was because people are retarded and thought they were something they aren't. Balls hanging. Not because of fans but because of censorship. This one was more moral. Absolutely. You have to remember though. It's a different movie with a different theme. It's not a teenage boy and his car anymore. It's a father and daughter. That in itself makes a huge difference. You can't really use The Rock as a way to hold up a discussion. The Rock had different writers. If you want a different kind of movie. You need a different kind of writer. As far as Galvatron goes. We knew Lockdown was the main bad guy and we had already seen very little of Galvatron. To assume he would be a main character would be silly. We don't know how he feels about the Dinobots now. That statement was made back in 2009. He also was not a fan of Transformers back in the beginning but he is now. A lot happens in 5 years. He also was not a fan of Arcee but lo and behold she was in ROTF. If it makes you feel better to believe he's going to care then by all means. My issue is that the arguments don't matter. Some like it. Some don't but until you have a different writer on board your going to see the same thing over and over.

I completely agree number 5-7 has to be a continous script! Michael bay has seriously got to sit there and put the script first come up with a great idea for a trilogy then come up with action later. Why doesnt he do that? That makes much more sense and would get better ideas. We as fans need to make a stand i have seen so many other fans demand other things and have gotten their way! We need to do the same! Seriously otherwise we will be back here in 2 years time complaining about the same thing.

By the time the script is written and approved by the studio it's too late to make any big changes. The script doesn't go from the writers directly to Bay. The studio has to see it before they present it and wish to hire him.

Exactly 2:35 PM. I remember that while the script was being developed, Bay was in the middle of the production of Pain and Gain. How much time do you think he had to sit down with Kruger and work long hours on the script? Not much I think. I don't understand why people keep thinking of Bay as writer/director like Lucas, Cameron or the Pixar guys that develop their own properties. Must directors in the industry come to the set and direct whatever they are hired to direct.

I think the problem is with all of us is that we go into the movie with a critics mindset, first time i went to see it me and my friends were 100% judging every aspect of it expecting it to be perfect, now if it had been any other film i wouldnt do that. Then i went to watch it a second time with different set of friends with a completely different mindset and guess what i actually really enjoyed it i thought it wasnt as bad as i thought, and some of my friends even started crying so there is some sort of connection between the characters and the audience, you people need to stop watching the movie as critics and you will enjoy it.

Exactly. Too many people pretending to be on high horse to look cool and smart.. 99% sure that most if not all of them do the worst everyday and enjoy watching the most disgusting and retared reality shows.

The reason for this huge dip is because the movie was not good. Word of mouth circulated and had a huge impact on the chances of leaving a lasting impression. Visually, the special effects were fantastic but like a man/woman who dates, its not all about the physical appeal that formulates a successful relationship. There were alot of leaks in the story and the whole Galvatron being created by humans....HORRIBLE. Dino, Sideswipe and the two remaining wreckers were missing from the film...Seriously? I also hated the fact that humans tortured and took down Ratchet so easily when in reality, the humans could've been taken out by him. The director needs to be replaced because this was the third strike. New cast with a totally new approach and yet, still a ton of flaws. The action was top notch but there has to be substance. The Dinobots were used to llure more audiences and convince die hard fans that this was what everyone finally wanted. NEW DIRECTOR PLEASE.

Agree and disagree. Critics shows what kind of mindset to go in to see it. If you went expecting to be blown away by a killer cast and story then of course you were going to be disappointed. If you went in and wanted to see Transformers and a lot of action then this movie was very good. I don't think the quality of the movie really had a lot to do with it though. A lot of people had already seen it. Now I will say that it wasn't brilliant enough to deserve a second viewing in theaters. Another thing is the run time. I know a lot of people who aren't going to the theaters to see it simply because it's too long for your average movie goer. Galvatron...yah that part sucked. Human's taking down a Transformer is not new. In TF1 the military took down Blackout with tank bullets. So why it's hard to accept that they could do it now with more advanced weaponry is beyond me. In this one though they mainly wounded Ratchet and Lockdown was the one who killed him. I think otherwise Ratchet would have lived. I don't know how much substance you want but in comparison the story in this one was much better. I like Bay and I have liked what he has done with these movies but I do think it's time for him and that horrible writer Ehren Kruger to step down and let someone else breathe some fresh air into them.

I'm still trying to figure out why your saying its a huge dip. All kinds of movies were at much lower box office numbers at the same time frame and went on to make 300 million. The first Iron Man made 318 million and the numbers were shy of AOE at same time frame and a bunch of other movies were at lower numbers at the same time and made 300 million. People say its going be around Captain America's numbers, WHAT? AOE is way ahead of Captain America's numbers at same time frame.The numbers for AOE are actually pretty strong for a summer block buster. Its only been 2 wks and its going to be over 200 million by Mon. Not to shabby. Its not going to do as good as the other Trans films domestically but should still do very well

Yeah I checked out those Box Office numbers at Box Office Mojo and your right. Ironman made less on identical days, almost exact,even with Trans 4 doing horrible on the 4th it still does better than Ironman. We will see when the theater counts come out.

I think people are being too myopic with the numbers. The tend to forget nice weather across a chunk of the country, and so.e of the economic factors, or the long run time have bearing. I cant afford seeing multiple times in a first run theater. I will definitely see it again at the cheapies and the bluray is a day one purchase.

Missing Transformers? Use your imagination as to what happened. Lockdown and Cemetery Wind were killing all remaining Transformers, we should assume that's what happened to Dino, Wreckers etc.

No mention of Sam? Like it even MATTERS to the plot.

Galvatron being human made? Get over it. Over several different continuities over the years, Galvatron has had different origins OTHER than Unicron. People need to let go of G1 and realise this is Bay's vision.

Hell, how can people be mad, Bay even threw in Prime's G1 alt mode AND a similar g1 transformation, but still....still people find things to moan about.

It isn't a world war 2 epic with Oscar winning actors. It's a fun, action packed summer movie. Enjoy it for what it is.

@Anonymous7/11/2014 4:27 PM: critics are getting paid to tell the world to go and watch the awful Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes movie. Many will be dumb enough to obey and watch that crap just because critics fake reviews told them to.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES WAS FANTASTIC. IT WAS A COMPLETE FILM WITH GREAT CHARACTER STORIES AND THE CGI WAS FLAWLESS. THE ACTORS BROUGHT THEIR A-GAME AND IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE MOVIE OF THE SUMMER.

1.DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES2.CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER3.X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is atrocious. A snob hollow movie for snob people thinking that it would make them appear more intelligent watching it because the marketing machine is telling so... Just lame and pathetic.